Walking

I’ve never really thought of myself as athletic. Maybe that’s because I always compared myself to the rest of my family and to my friends. Everyone else liked to go hiking and camping and was involved in various sports. I tried to avoid getting dirty.

When I really think about it, however, I realize that my perception of myself is wrong. Just because everyone else was on the swim team didn’t mean that I was a bad swimmer. I didn’t pass the first time I took swimming lessons—but I learned to swim a week later. I took 5 years of swimming lessons and learned all of the strokes. I liked to dive and swam a mile the first time when I was twelve.

I liked archery, even though I wasn’t very good at it. I jumped rope and climbed trees (the easy ones). I was pretty good at gymnastics. I became an OK baseball player-- but not until 5th grade when someone taught me how to pitch and bat. I’ve tried racquetball and tennis. I prefer cross-country skiing, because when it comes to downhill, I do a great left turn, but that doesn’t really count as skiing.

When I look back over my life, I can see that I really was athletic, even if I didn't know it at the time. As an adult, I go walking every day at the mall. I walk between 2 and 3 miles and run up and down the stairs when I can.

Superheroes need strong bodies. They have to be strong enough to get the job done. But superheroes also understand that their bodies need practice in order to develop strength. They find a way to exercise that fits their needs and their own body. The best superheroes find a way to like exercising. It doesn’t matter whether they are very good at the sports they try—because they are looking for fun, not perfection!